Wall bookstacks



July 22, 1958 H. o. QLUNDQVIST I WALL BOOKSTACKS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJan. 23, 1956 v In venfor v Hora/d Os/wfiLur/dgv/st July 22, 1958 H. o.LUNDQVIST WALL BOOKSTACKS Filed Jan. 25, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fly 2.

United States Patent .0

WALL BOOKSTACKS Harald Oskar Lundqvi'st, Geneva, Switzerland ApplicationJanuary 23, 1956, Serial No. 560,819 Claims priority, application SwedenFebruary 16, 1955 '2 Claims. (11. 211-990 of the kind referred to, thelateral supports are in the form of triangularly shaped frames of metalwire or the like, the hook elements being in the form of separate,detachable double-hooks for carrying interengagement with the lateralsupports. This arrangement-however,

has been found to involve a disadvantage in that, for

instance due to shocks exerted against the underside of the shelf, thelateral supports are liable to get disengaged from the hook elements. Inaddition, the triangular shape of the lateral supports offers anunsatisfactory support for books and the like. Also, the strength ofthis construction has frequently proved to be insufficient due to thefact that the lateral supports were only connected with the shelf byhooking the bent-off end portions of the two legs of the triangularlyshaped supporting frame into two corresponding bores made in the endedges of the shelf.

The present invention has for one of its objects to remedy thefirst-mentioned one of said disadvantages,

Y and this is accomplished by the feature, that each lateral support isrigidly connected, in the region of its upper and rear end, with arearwardly projecting hook which is adapted to enable the lateralsupports to be released from the wall bars only after the shelf, andthusits lateral supports, having been swung upwardly about the hooksuntil the rear edges of the lateral supports have become completelydisengaged from the grooves made in the front surfaces of the wall bars.

Since, when the shelf is mounted in place, the horizontal distancebetween the rear edge of each lateral support and the bore of thecorresponding wall bar is less than the distance between this bore andthe front edge of the wall bar, it will be necessary, in order to enablethe shelves to be mounted on, and removed from, the wall bars, that thewhole length of the rear edges of the lateral supports received in thelongitudinal grooves of the wall bars is situated at a lower level thanthe hooks engaged into the bores of the wall bars, and this may beconveniently accomplished by curving the rear upper corners of thelateral supports, or, preferably, according to a further object of theinvention, by arranging the hook so as to project rearwardly andupwardly at an angle. It would be possible, of course, to attain thesame result by a combination of these two features. The insertion of thehooks of the lateral supports into the transverse holes of the wall barswill thus be enabled by initially holding the shelf swung out from thewall in an inclined position. The lowering of the shelf into 2 r thehorizontal position is enabled by the grooves-made in the wall bars, therear edges of the lateral supports thus coming to rest againstthe bottomsurfaces of these grooves. This results in the advantage already:mentioned consisting in that the hooks will be prevented from gettingdisengaged from the wall bars until the lateral supports will have beenswung a suificient amount about the hooks completely to disengage therear edges of the lateral supports from the longitudinal grooves made inthe wall bars to stabilize the shelves endwis'e.

In accordance with the present invention, the lateral supports may begiven any desired shape making them most suitable to perform theirsupporting "function. According to one, preferred, embodiment of 'theinvention, each lateral support is provided "at its base 'w-i'th astrip-metal element adapted to be engaged into a corresponding slot cutin the end edge surface of the shelf by, for instance, milling orsawing. This enables theresults that, firstly, where the shelf is madeof wood, the same will be stiffened and strengthened and, 's'eco'ndly,the load will be distributed over the whole width of the shelf.

Other features of the invention will be set forth more in detail inconjunction with the following description er a preferred embodimentthereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken 'awayQa'nd illustrating botha shelf mountedin'place and, to 'one side thereof, a second shelf aboutto be mounted, the latter being shown separated from its lateralsupport.

Fig. 2 isa front elevation illustrating a stack comprising threeshelves, and

Fig. 3 illustrates the same stack as seen from one side thereof.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation illustrating both, in full, a shelfmounted in its position of use, and, in broken lines, a shelf in thecourse of the mounting operation.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken along the line V-V in Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawings more specifically, numeral 1 designatesthe ribs or bars which are fixed to the wall such as by screws andhaving each a row of transverse bores 2. Numeral 3 designates theshelves proper, and numeral 4 the lateral supports therefor. In theembodiment illustrated in the drawings, the lateral supports 4, as willbe best seen from Figs. 1, 4 and 5, consist of an invertedly U-shapedwire 5 of a rigid material, such as, for instance, steel or brass wireor rod. This wire bent intoan inverted U-shape is rigidly connected atthe ends of its legs, by, for instance, welding or riveting, to ahorizontally disposed strip-metal element 6 which is intended to beintroduced into a corresponding slot 7 cut into the end 8 of the shelf3, where, if desired, it may be secured additionally by screws 9 or thelike for which purpose the strip elements 6 may be provided with atleast one elongated slot 10 in order to allow for an unobstructedrelative movement of the shelf due to variations in the humidity of theair.

Extending diagonally or substantially diagonally relative to theinvertedly U-shaped lateral support 4 bent from metal wire or rod is anadditional wire or rod 11 secured to said support 4 by welding or in anysuitable other manner and projecting rearwardly beyond the rear,possible arcuate upper corner of the invertedly U-shaped support 4 saidadditional wire or red being formed into a hook 12 which is adapted tobe hooked into any desired transverse bore 2 in a wall bar 1. The bar 1is provided in its front surface with one or two longitudinallyextending grooves 13 into one of which the rear or inner edge of theinvertedly U-shaped support 4 is engageable to thereby provide asatisfactory endwise location of the 3 shelf. In the front region shelf3 recesses 14 may be made for accommodating the frontmost leg of theinvertedly U-shaped support 4 whereas the rear corners of the shelf 3are recessed sufficiently, at 15, to enable the rear edge 16 of theshelf to fit closely, or substantially closely, to the wall surface.

Although, in the previous description, wires. 5 and 11 .have beenreferred to, this should not be understood to ,restrict the invention tothe use of wires of circular and if the slot 7 is cut by means of acircular saw then, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5, the extreme endportion 17 p of the element could suitably be curved according to theradius of curvature of the saw blade.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a wall bookstack comprising a set of shelves, each shelf includinga shelf proper and means for supporting the same including a lateralsupport, means for detachably connecting the same to the shelf proper,said lateral support consisting of an inverted U-shaped frame at eachend of each shelf proper of rod-like material, spaced vertical carrierbars adapted for attachment to a wall, a row of vertically spacedtransverse apertures in each carrier bar, said means for supporting saidshelf proper further including a hook element rigidly mounted on eachlateral support and interconnecting the same,

of the end margins of the said hook element being adapted to engage oneof said transverse apertures and forming a pivot axis for said lateralsupport, said carrier bars each having at least one longitudinal groove,each carrier bar having at least one face through which said apertureextends and another face at right angles thereto on which said grooveextends, said groove being adapted to support one of the lateralsupports of said U-shaped frame when each of said shelves is in itsposition of use, said hook element extending in a diagonal directionfrom one lateral support which may be swung about the pivot axis of saidhook element until thesaid lateral support is disengaged from said shelfproper.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the said means for detachablyconnecting the lateral support to its shelf includes a slot extendinglongitudinally in the end of the shelf proper, and a strip metal memberadapted to be engaged in said slot, said strip metal member connectingthe free ends of the U-shaped frame of said lateral support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS565,189 Trowbridge Aug. 4, 1896 1,354,270 Wood Sept. 28, 1920 1,859,221Richard May 17, 1932 2,231,128 Krantz Feb. 11, 1941 2,560,880 LundquistJuly 17, 1951 2,577,138 Lundquist Dec. 4, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,498Great Britain June 3, 1910 98,562 Sweden Apr. 9, 1940

